The Social Security Administration (SSA) has released state by state information on numbers of individuals whose Part D low income subsidy (extra help) will end March 31 if they do not respond to SSA’s request for information concerning their continued eligibility. Nationwide, 86,789 low-income Medicare beneficiaries subject to routine redeterminations had not responded to SSA by March 10. An additional 2,845 new widows/widowers had also not responded to requests for information concerning their income and resources after their spouse’s death.

Each year, SSA conducts a review of eligibility of a portion of recipients of extra help by sending the individual notice of the information SSA has on file and asking the individual to confirm or deny the accuracy of the information. Based on the responses, SSA finds that the person does or does not continue to be eligible and at which subsidy level. Each year a portion of those contacted by SSA do not respond to the letter and several subsequent follow-up contacts by the agency. When SSA receives no response by mid-February, it sends the individual a letter telling her or him that extra help will end March 31. This year’s termination letters went out between February 23 and February 28, 2011.

If you or someone you know has such a letter, contact SSA immediately so that your subsidy will continue if you continue to be eligible. If you miss the March 31 deadline, you may still be able to have on-going eligibility if you appeal the cut off within 60 days of receiving the letter, or even after 60 days, if you can show good cause as to why you missed the 60 deadline. If none of these steps is taken, you can still reapply for extra help. The effective date of the help will be the beginning of the month in which you told SSA that you wanted to apply or the date your application was filed, whichever is earlier.

The state by state listings of numbers of individuals who have not responded to redetermination letters are below:

MMA Redetermination Terminations for Non-Response

For 2010 August MMA Redeterminations

State

Initial Pre-Termination Counts

Cyclical Pre-Termination Counts

Total Pre-Terminations(By State)

Alabama

69

1757

1826

Alaska

2

124

126

Arizona

47

1099

1146

Arkansas

30

977

1007

California

214

5958

6172

Colorado

48

1087

1135

Connecticut

15

547

562

DC

1

123

124

Delaware

5

208

213

Florida

182

5368

5550

Georgia

121

3059

3180

Hawaii

8

479

487

Idaho

9

328

337

Illinois

106

4102

4208

Indiana

45

1797

1842

Iowa

19

669

688

Kansas

20

660

680

Kentucky

62

1686

1748

Louisiana

41

1788

1829

Maine

9

72

81

Maryland

51

1891

1942

Massachusetts

44

1117

1161

Michigan

73

2413

2486

Minnesota

20

594

614

Mississippi

32

1233

1265

Missouri

57

1764

1821

Montana

11

355

366

Nebraska

10

357

367

Nevada

38

705

743

New Hampshire

6

271

277

New Jersey

81

2722

2803

New Mexico

18

579

597

New York

147

6319

6466

North Carolina

120

3745

3865

North Dakota

3

216

219

Ohio

75

3014

3089

Oklahoma

46

807

853

Oregon

27

726

753

Pennsylvania

89

5668

5757

Rhode Island

7

268

275

South Carolina

82

2054

2136

South Dakota

8

176

184

Tennessee

62

1944

2006

Texas

294

7815

8109

Unknown

0

30

30

Utah

16

456

472

Vermont

3

48

51

Virginia

89

2393

2482

Washington

38

998

1036

West Virginia

35

644

679

Wisconsin

21

798

819

Wyoming

2

120

122

TOTALS

2,661

84,128

86,789

NOTE:Application has not been returned as of 03/10/11.

Death of Spouse Pre-Termination Counts

For 2010 August MMA Redeterminations

State

Count

AK

1

AL

87

AR

58

AZ

36

CA

150

CO

33

CT

8

DC

2

DE

9

FL

172

GA

118

HI

13

IA

18

ID

15

IL

116

IN

53

KS

28

KY

83

LA

66

MA

24

MD

36

MI

68

MN

25

MO

49

MS

70

MT

14

NC

177

ND

4

NE

8

NH

1

NJ

80

NM

28

NV

19

NY

97

OH

64

OK

63

OR

44

PA

98

RI

11

SC

114

SD

7

TN

110

TX

359

UT

13

VA

93

VT

1

WA

32

WI

16

WV

43

WY

11

TOTAL

2,845

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